


Alright on Paper

by Jay_Washington



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, Art Student Keith (Voltron), Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), College, College Student Allura (Voltron), College Student Hunk (Voltron), College Student Keith (Voltron), College Student Lance (Voltron), College Student Pidge | Katie Holt, College Student Shiro (Voltron), Diary/Journal, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Established Hunk/Shay (Voltron), F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), Human Allura (Voltron), Human Coran (Voltron), Human Lotor (Voltron), Human Shay (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Japanese Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron) are Roommates, Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Korean Keith (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance (Voltron) is a Dork, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Like literally everyone, M/M, Matt Holt & Shiro Friendship, Matt Holt is a Good Sibling, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Multi, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), One-Sided Allura/Shiro (Voltron), One-Sided Katie Holt/Shiro (Voltron), One-Sided Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith/Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Lotor (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Rival Relationship, Rivalry, Roommates, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Shiro (Voltron) Can't Cook, Teacher Coran (Voltron), Thief Lance (Voltron), everyone is in love with Shiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-01-05 22:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21216089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jay_Washington/pseuds/Jay_Washington
Summary: Despite not being able to decide on a major or land a date with his cute RA, Lance loves college. But when Keith, his longtime one-sided rival, suddenly shows up in his favorite class and his dorm room, all of that quickly changes. Surly and uncooperative as he may be, Keith is, unfortunately, a whiz at everything he does, especially when it comes to acing the weekly Astronomy quizzes. If only Lance could get hold of Keith’s little black notebook, then maybe he could finally pull ahead. Or at least, knock Keith down a couple of pegs.





	1. The Little Black Notebook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is on track to fail Astronomy, and his saving grace is quickly stolen from him by his mullet-wearing rival.

“A forty-seven,” Pidge yelled. “You must be joking. Surely, you couldn’t have done _that_ badly.”

Lance groaned as he rubbed his temple. Using his other hand, he spun his quiz around to face Pidge and Hunk. “See for yourself.”

Hunk slurped down some of his smoothie, wincing a little as he scanned Lance’s quiz. “Look on the bright side—at least Coran gave you partial credit on some of the questions.”

Lance pointed a finger toward Hunk’s nose. “Those are pity points, Hunk. Pity points!”

“Also,” said Pidge as she adjusted her glasses, “it seems like you only got those points because he couldn’t make out what you were actually trying to say. Your spelling is horrendous! I can’t tell if you were trying to write synergy or syzygy.”

“Which one was the correct answer?”

Pidge pursed her lips and slid the quiz back over to him. “I think I’m starting to see the issue.”

“It’s no use,” Lance groaned. “That’s been my best score so far. At this rate, I’m gonna fail!”

“Aw, c’mon buddy, you still have a chance. It’s only the third week,” said Hunk as he offered Lance a reassuring smile. Normally, Lance appreciated his optimism, but today was not one of those days.

Pidge shook her head, glancing back at Lance’s test. “Actually, Lance is right. If he continues to get grades like this on our weekly quizzes, there’s no way he’ll pass. He’d be better off dropping the course.”

Hunk’s smile stretched out until it looked strained across his face. “Hey, Pidge, I know you’re new to the whole college thing, but around here, we try to stay positive at least until midterms.”

“I mean,” said Pidge, looking around the coffee shop as she tried to come up with something to say, “I _guess_ I could try to tutor you.”

Lance’s face scrunched up in disgust as he leaned backwards in his chair. “Tutored by a _freshman_? Why not just write ‘I’m an idiot’ in bold letters on my forehead?”

“I think you’re making too big of a deal out of this,” said Hunk. “I mean, it’d be different if we were in high school, I guess, but—“

“I’m not being tutored by Pidge, Hunk—end of discussion.”

Pidge shrugged, obviously not too bothered by Lance’s rejection. “If you’re not opposed to the idea of tutoring in general, you could always get _Allura_ to tutor you.”

“Ooh, _Allura_,” Hunk cooed in a fake British accent as he raised his eyebrows. The two of them clasped hands and pressed their cheeks together as they made kissy faces at Lance.

Lance had half a mind to throw his white, hot mocha at them, but darn it if it wasn’t the best tasting thing he’d had this week! Instead, he opted for crumpling his quiz and throwing it at the two of them. He’d been prepared for them to try to break apart, aiming for Hunk instead of down the center. The wrinkly ball bounced off of Hunk’s nose and into Pidge’s left ear before finally falling to the ground.

“Suck it,” he yelled at both of them, earning a pointed look from several of the other customers. “That’s whatcha get when ya mess with the sharpshooter!”

“The what,” Hunk asked.

“Sharpshooter,” Lance repeated. When neither Hunk nor Pidge seemed to make the connection, he pointed at himself with his thumb. “That’s me.”

Hunk tilted his head to the side. “People call you a sharpshooter?”

“Well, not all the time, but—“

“Since when,” Pidge asked, pushing her glasses up again.

Lance jumped up from his seat as he said, “What d’ya mean ‘since when?’ Since forever, that’s when!”

“Okay,” said Hunk, laughing, “I’ve been with you since elementary school, and I’ve can one hundred percent confirm that no one has _ever_ called you that.”

Lance sat back down in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, maybe _you_ just haven’t been paying attention!”

Hunk raised his hands in surrender and gave an apologetic glance over his shoulder at the other customers. “Alright, alright, let’s calm down before Bibobi kicks us out of his bistro. We can’t afford to lose our hang out spot.”

“Hunk’s right,” said Pidge. “But back to the topic at hand—why haven’t you tried asking Allura for help, Lance? She’s gotten some pretty good grades on the quizzes. Plus, she’s our RA, so you don’t have to worry about introducing yourself.”

Lance took a long sip out of his mug and turned to face the window. “And let her know how stupid I am? I’m trying to get an _actual_ date with her, Pidge—not a study date.”

Pidge turned to look out the window as well. “Well, there’s always—Shiro!”

Lance and Hunk followed her gaze out the window to see Shiro, on the opposite side of the quad, walking out of the Smythe Science Building. He pulled out his phone and shifted his backpack further up his shoulder, moving it away from the base of his prosthetic arm.

“So,” said Hunk, after several moments of silence, “are we just staring at Shiro?”

“We’re not staring at Shiro,” Pidge said, the tips of her ears turning red. “We’re—We’re—“

Hunk smiled at Lance over Pidge’s head. “We’re staring at Shiro.”

Pidge turned away from the window, furiously staring down at her cup of tea. “I just mean, if we’re on the subject of tutoring, Shiro could help. He’s pretty great.”

“Pretty great,” Lance repeated. “The man’s a legend! He’s, like, the perfect student.”

“I remember meeting him last year,” Hunk said, smiling fondly. “He was so cool.”

Lance snorted. “You were so nervous about being on a college campus that you started blowing chunks. You almost hit him with it.”

Hunk looked back out the window, muttering, “Yeah, but he was so cool about it.”

“So,” said Pidge, “I guess it’s all settled, then? You’ll ask Shiro to tutor you?”

Lance downed the rest of his drink. “It’s not a bad idea. Lemme know what he says, will ya?”

“M-Me,” Pidge asked, choking on her tea a little. “Why am I asking him?”

“You know him best,” said Lance casually as he leaned back in his chair. “Your brother and him are close, right?”

“Well, yeah, they share an apartment together,” said Pidge quietly. She shook her head emphatically and locked eyes with Lance. “But that doesn’t mean I should ask him. _You’re_ the one that needs tutoring. Besides, he’s in our class, so it doesn’t matter how well you know him.”

“But it just makes way more sense to you to ask him. Don’t you think so, Pidge?”

Pidge glared at him over the rim of her glasses. “Are you gonna try to make me ask Allura out for you too, then, since I’m her suitemate?”

Lance looked away, unable to keep from smiling at the mention of Allura. “I mean, you’d be a friend for life if you did.”

“Absolutely not,” said Pidge. She jerked a thumb in Hunk’s direction. “If he could huck up the courage to ask Shay out by himself, then you can do the same with Allura.”

“Aw, c’mon, Pidge,” Lance cried. “This is totally different! Shay’s not nearly as intimidating as Shiro or Allura. No offense, Hunk.”

Hunk shrugged. “None taken. But I gotta disagree with you, buddy. You do _not_ want to be on the opposite end of a fight with her. She’s been taking those jiu-jitsu classes recently and lemme tell ya—sparring with her? Ooh, boy. Don’t even get me started on—“

“Oh no,” Lance grumbled, no longer listening as another person caught his eye outside the window.

Hunk turned to see what he was looking at. “What’s wrong? Who’s that with Shiro?”

“I’d recognize that mullet anywhere. It’s Keith!”

“Keith,” Hunk said slowly, still not putting the pieces together.

“Keith, Keith, Keith,” Pidge muttered, pressing her knuckles into her lips as she marinated on the name. “Is he that guy that Coran kept calling for on the roster?”

“Yeah, he is,” Lance yelled, watching as Keith shuffled up to Shiro. “That jerk. Showing up to class now…Who does he think he is? I bet he’s trying to ask Shiro to tutor him too, since he’s so behind. Well, not on my watch!”

With sudden speed, Lance jumped up from their table and raced out the coffee shop. He heard the other two scrambling behind him, trying their hardest to keep up without disrupting the other customers.

When he got outside, Lance slowed down to a brisk walk, keeping his eye on Shiro and Keith the whole time. As the pair started to move, Lance changed course, deciding instead to use a nearby bush as cover. He crouched down, waiting for the perfect time to insert himself in their conversation.

“I don’t get it, Shiro,” said Keith as he leaned up against the side of the building. “Why would Coran agree to keep me in the class?”

Shiro laughed and ruffled the top of Keith’s head. “Simple. Because I asked him to.”

Keith ducked underneath Shiro’s hand and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. “But why go through the trouble?”

“I promised you I’d never give up on you, didn’t I?”

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed together before he turned his head away from Shiro. Lance ducked a little lower behind the bush, worried that Keith might see him. He prayed that a bug wouldn’t use this as an opportunity to crawl on him.

“Whether you admit it or not, I know how much this means to you, Keith. And I have something for you that I think’ll really help you,” said Shiro as he flipped his backpack around and dug into it, producing a black notebook. When Keith didn’t immediately take it, Shiro pressed the notebook into his hands.

Keith reluctantly began to flip through it, glancing up at Shiro with wide eyes. “Shiro, I-I couldn’t—“

“Keith,” Shiro said, fixing a stern smile at him. “Just take it, alright? Use it to do well in class.”

Keith opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, nodding silently instead. He put the notebook in his bag and jerked his head backwards towards the student union. “Have you, uh, eaten yet?”

Shiro’s smiled widened, looking much more jovial. “Are you offering to treat me to lunch, Keith? Because I wouldn’t turn that down.”

Despite Keith hunching his shoulders forward, Lance thought that Keith looked quite happy. “Who said I was treating you,” Keith muttered as he started walking away from the building.

“Wow,” said Shiro as he followed after Keith. “I had no idea you were so ungrateful.”

Lance started to get up and follow them when he heard Hunk call out to him: “Lance, wait!”

“Did you guys see what just happened,” Lance asked.

Hunk stopped jogging and panted as he tried to catch his breath. “Well, we did, but we didn’t want them to know we were there, so we weren’t close enough to hear what was happening.”

Lance pointed at a distant Keith, yelling, “Shiro talked Coran into keeping Keith in the class!”

Pidge adjusted her glasses as she turned to look at Keith and Shiro. “That’s strange. He’s missed all the quizzes.” She snorted. “He’d be in an even worse shape than you if he jumped in now.”

“I don’t think so,” said Lance. “Shiro gave him some kind of notebook, said to do well in class with it.”

“What do you think that was about,” Hunk asked.

“Wait,” Pidge yelled. “Was it black?”

Lance nodded. He didn’t see what the color had to do with anything.

She took a couple of steps in the direction Shiro and Keith had gone. “That’s Shiro’s astronomy notebook! The thing’s _filled_ with all of his notes for the class, plus extra stuff that he’s looked up just for fun.”

Hunk shifted his backpack over his shoulder. “Okay, so Shiro’s notebook is awesome like he is. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal,” Lance said, “is that if Keith has something like that, then I can’t use it for Astronomy.”

“We don’t know if it was his Astronomy notebook for sure,” Hunk contested. “What if it’s for another class?”

Pidge shook her head. “If Shiro talked to Coran on Keith’s behalf, he must really be invested in him.”

“That proves it,” said Lance. “Shiro gave Keith his notebook. Man, and right when I was about to ask him to tutor me.”

Hunk frowned slightly. “I mean, you still could? I’m sure he knows just as much as his notebook does.”

“You don’t get it, Hunk,” said Lance as he shook his head. “Tutoring with Shiro means I’d have to find time for me to fit into Shiro’s schedule.”

Hunk glanced at Pidge as he said, “I mean, that’s kinda the point of tutoring, isn’t it?”

“But,” Lance continued, “if I had Shiro’s notebook, I could study with it whenever I wanted to.”

Pidge smirked at him and raised an eyebrow. “The question then would become whether or not you’d actually do it. Hunk’s right, Lance. I think you should just ask Shiro to tutor you. The notebook doesn’t matter.”

But Lance didn’t ask Shiro to tutor him, especially when he suddenly started seeing Keith everywhere on campus, always with the black notebook in hand. He became even more suspicious on Wednesday, when Shiro surprisingly used a different colored notebook in Astronomy.

On Friday, Keith took all three of their makeup quizzes and that week’s quiz. When he’d finished—following closely after Shiro and Allura—Lance saw Keith try to return the notebook to Shiro, a gesture that Shiro refused to acknowledge.

The following Monday, at the end of class, Coran returned Lance’s quiz to him—a twenty-six. Lance glanced behind him at Keith, who hadn’t even turned his papers over yet. With an over exaggerated yawn, Lance stretched his arms out and twisted in his chair. He brought his arm down heavily on the edge of Keith’s table, knocking the papers to the floor.

“What’s your problem, man,” Keith asked, glaring at Lance. He pulled the black notebook closer to him.

Lance gave Keith a strained smile. “My bad. Gosh, I’m just so clumsy. Lemme get that for you.”

He quickly bent down and scanned over the papers, almost falling out of the seat with shock as he saw the grades. Lance slammed the papers facedown on Keith’s table and mumbled a quick, “Sorry about that.”

“Just watch it next time, got it?” Keith shoved the papers into his backpack, followed quickly by the black notebook. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he stood up and walked toward the door.

With some prompting from Hunk, Lance hurried out of the classroom and into the hall, where Pidge was waiting for them.

“What was that about,” Pidge asked, tilting her head in the direction Keith had gone.

Hunk tightened the straps on his backpack, saying, “Lance tried to take a peek at Keith’s grades.”

“I did not,” Lance yelled.

Hunk raised an eyebrow at him. “Right…well, let’s hear it. What’d he get on the quizzes?”

Lance crossed his arms over his chest. “A ninety-two.”

“What?”

Of course they’d make him repeat it: “Keith’s _lowest_ score was a ninety-two!”

“Whoa, really,” Hunk said, looking back at the classroom as if he would still see Keith. “That’s pretty impressive for a guy who’s supposed to be three weeks behind on material.”

Pidge nodded. “Despite what he looks like, he might be smarter than we initially gave him credit for.”

“No,” Lance growled. “Keith’s good, but there’s no way he’s _that_ good. It was the notebook, I’m sure of it.”

Hunk clicked his tongue, his brows coming together in worry. “I dunno, man. I don’t ever see him taking notes in it.”

Lance pulled Hunk closer by the strap of his backpack. “That’s because Shiro’s probably already covered everything. The man’s a genius when it comes to this stuff—we know this!”

“Something still just feels…off,” Hunk said quietly. “Pidge, what do you think?”

Pidge fidgeted underneath their gazes. Then, pushing her glasses further up her nose, she said, “It _does_ seem like a rather large convenience.”

“That proves it,” Lance yelled. “I need to get my hands on that notebook.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I literally just binged all of Voltron last month and this is the first fic I'm writing for it. I have many more planned, but I'd love to hear you guy's thoughts as you read this! I don't have a day set up for updates just yet, but I do plan on them being weekly!


	2. A Club of Sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith needs friends and Allura needs a favor. Somehow, Shiro is going to help them both.

Shiro slung his backpack onto the floor and slid into the right side of the loveseat with a loud groan. A comforting baking smell wafted through the living room. Matt’s mom must’ve brought another casserole, which was especially nice today because Shiro had _not_ felt like trying to make anything.

From the kitchen, he heard Matt say, “I _told_ you not to go to the mailbox just yet.”

“Shut up,” he said, laughing. “I can’t believe you didn’t warn me about Slav.”

There was some shuffling and the closing of what Shiro knew was their oven door. Then, Matt rounded the corner of the kitchen wall and leaned up against it. “You wouldn’t have listened to me, anyway. Can’t get anything through to you, _loverboy_.”

Shiro reached behind him and tossed a pillow at Matt’s face. As Matt scrambled to regain his composure, Shiro said, “I’m making progress.”

Matt scrunched up his nose in laughter and brought the pillow with him as he went to sit in his recliner. As he reached up to redo his ponytail, he asked, “How’s Keith?”

Shiro sighed again, running his hand down the length of his face. “He’s…well, Keith,” he said after a while. “He’s still got a lot of things working against him, but he’ll do well, I know it. He just needs a little push.”

Matt finished messing with his hair and pulled the lever to recline the seat. “Is he doing well in Astronomy?”

“He’s doing great, actually,” Shiro said, perking up. “Much better than I think Coran or I expected, which is great because Coran wasn’t really excited about letting him into the class in the first place.”

Matt pulled out his phone as it dinged with a notification. “That’s kind of a shame.”

“What,” Shiro asked. “Why would that be a bad thing?”

Matt finished texting something—probably a thank you to his mom—and then turned back to Shiro with a shrug. “Katie asked me the other day about tutoring. I figured if Keith was doing poorly, maybe you could set him up with a tutor.”

“Tutoring,” Shiro said slowly, mulling over the word.

The timer on the oven went off, prompting Matt to stand up. “I mean,” he said, raising his voice as he entered the kitchen, “at the very least, it’d be a way for him to make some new friends. Seems like he could use some of those.”

For an Accounting major, Shiro thought that Matt was strangely perceptive about other humans. He pulled out his phone as it buzzed in his pocket and saw that he had a text from Allura.

_‘Shiro! I have a favor I need to ask of you.’_

He smiled down at his phone, looking at the crown emoji beside Allura’s name—because she’d demanded she have an emoji with her contact. The crown bothered her every time she saw it, but it was moments like this that let him know he’d made the right choice.

With Allura’s favors, it could be as simple as grabbing her a coffee or as tiresome as helping her move into her building. Still, everyone knew that Shiro would help her.

_‘What type of favor?’_

He didn’t even bother putting his phone down, seeing that she was already typing. Her reply was immediate: _‘I want to start a club!’_

Shiro blinked at his phone. This wasn’t anywhere near what he’d expected her to ask of him. He barely registered Matt telling him that the food was ready before he retreated to his room to do homework.

_‘…A club?’_

He got up to grab a piece of the casserole, knowing that if he didn’t do it now, he would inevitably forget about it and let it get cold. From the kitchen, he heard his phone ding several times. Whatever this club was about, Allura sure seemed to be excited about it.

He returned to the loveseat, lazily shoving a spoonful of the broccoli-cheddar mush into his mouth as he read through her texts:

_‘Well, a club of sorts.’ _

_‘Coran gave me the idea, actually.’_

_‘He and my dad were a part of a similar thing when they were in uni.’_

_‘I want to start it up again!’_

Shiro leaned back against the seat, thinking about it. Keeping up a club would definitely be a lot of work, especially if they were trying to be officially recognized by the school—which, knowing Allura, they would definitely be trying to do. They’d have to find people who wanted to be officers, a club advisor, and a place to meet.

As if she knew what he was thinking about, Allura sent Shiro another text: _‘I’ve already talked to some other students who said they’d be willing to be our officers and Coran said he’d be happy to be our advisor!’_

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh. He felt that, even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to get out of this. There was still one issue, though: _‘When and where would we be meeting?’_

Allura immediately sent a string of wide-smiling emoji faces. Soon after came the text, _‘So you’ll help start it?’_

Shiro hesitated for a moment before sending his reply. If he thought about it, he had plenty of time to potentially help out with a club. The problem was he wasn’t sure he necessarily wanted to be in a club. He’d never felt a need to be in one before, especially since he’d made friends fairly easily without it.

Matt’s earlier words about Keith suddenly came to mind. Shiro knew that if he joined the club, Keith could probably be convinced to follow him. Surely even Keith would be able to make some friends at that point.

_‘Yeah, I’ll help.’_

Allura sent another massive emoji text, this time flooding the box with starry-eyed faces. _‘Let’s meet up tomorrow after Astronomy to discuss it!’_

Shiro sent back a thumbs-up emoji before discarding his phone into the empty seat beside him. He went to take another bite out of his casserole, grimacing when he realized that he’d still allowed it to get lukewarm.

As he went to the kitchen to warm it back up, his thoughts wandered back to Keith, wondering how he was doing with his roommate, James. Shiro knew a little bit about James, having tutored him last school year for a Physics class.

Despite both of them being talented, it seemed that the two did _not_ make good roommates, with Keith often taking the thirty-minute walk from campus to Shiro and Matt’s apartment to crash on the couch. Shiro was almost certain that if Keith could have a good dorm life, he would start putting more effort into his classes.

Luckily, the weekly Astronomy quizzes had been enough to boost Keith’s confidence a little bit. There was still the issue of his art class, though. Keith claimed he felt restricted by the class requirements and just wasn’t inspired for any of their assignments. As a Physics major, Shiro didn’t know how to help with that. It’s not like he felt “inspired” for any of his assignments either.

But in Astronomy the next night, Shiro caught Keith furiously scribbling away in his little black book. But when Shiro asked to see it, Keith was quick to close it and mutter that it was nothing special before leaving.

Shiro wasn’t too bothered by it. At the very least, this proved that Keith finally seemed to be accepting Shiro’s gift.

As Pidge tried to shuffle past him, Shiro smiled at her and said, “Hey, Pidge! Tell your mom I said thanks for the casserole.”

She tucked a tuft of her short hair behind her ear and nodded. Lance nudged her shoulder, laughing at her as he, Pidge, and Hunk walked out the door. Shiro looked after them wistfully, thinking about Keith again.

“Shiro,” cried Allura as she wrapped her fingers around Shiro’s bicep. “Thanks so much for agreeing to help!”

He allowed her to pull him toward the front of the classroom. “Have you figured out a place to meet yet?”

Coran finished cleaning the whiteboard with an extravagant wave of his hand. “Not yet,” he yelled. “But don’t you worry, Shiro—we’re still on the hunt for it. For now, we can use the Astronomy classroom!”

“Oh, _great_,” said Shiro, turning to share a slightly concerned look with Allura. “Well, I guess that doesn’t matter yet. Right now, we can just focus on what this club is supposed to be about.”

“Heroism,” cried Coran, slamming his hands down on the table.

Shiro blinked at him.

“Oh, and chivalry, too.” He smoothed the right end of his mustache, pinching the end of it between his fingers. “It’s about students like yourselves demonstrating the skills they have and pioneering the way for your peers toward a collaboration of thoughts and ideas that will inevitably pave a path towards global cooperation!”

“I think,” said Allura slowly, “what Coran means to say is that—“

“It’s a student-led club where the members teach the others about things they’re interested in,” Shiro asked. He glanced at Allura, whose perfectly plucked eyebrows rose in surprise. “That’s what it is, right?”

“Yes, well, if you wanted to explain it in _laymen’s terms_,” said Coran brusquely, waving his hand dismissively. “But right on, Shiro. I knew you would be on board once Allura told me she was considering you.”

Shiro leaned against the edge of the front table, steadying himself on either side with his arms. “Allura said that you and her father used to be a part of something similar.”

Coran held a hand up to his heart fondly. “Ah, yes. That certainly feels like forever ago. Your father,” he said, turning to look at Allura, “referred to all of us as paladins. He used to say that we were taking up the torch, setting examples like the knights of old.”

That explained the talk of heroism and chivalry. Shiro cleared his throat before asking, “So where are the new paladins supposed to be meeting? Did you or Allura find a place?”

“I don’t see why we can’t just meet here,” said Coran as he extended his hand outwards, sweeping over the classroom. He glanced between Allura and Shiro as they both fell silent. Finally, Coran crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. “Fine, I suppose I can look for another suitable location.”

Shiro turned toward the door suddenly as four students crowded the frame. They huddled beside each other, whispering feverishly to one another in a level that made Shiro surprised that they could even hear each other. “Need help with something?”

Allura whipped around, a wide, sparkling smile stretching across her face. She waved her hand for them to come in. “Thank you for coming, friends! I am forever indebted to you.”

Turning to Coran and Shiro again, Allura pointed down the line of students from left to right. “Coran, Shiro, this is Chuchule, Platt, Chulatt, and Plachu.”

Shiro extended his right hand to Plachu as he said, “Nice to meet you.”

Plachu narrowed his eyes at Shiro’s hand as glanced at Allura with a raised eyebrow. Finally, Plachu crossed his arms and gave Shiro a simple head nod.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” said Allura, looking mortified. “They’re not really a fan of other people. They really just agreed to be our officers.”

“Okay,” Shiro said slowly as he pulled his hand back down to his side. He wasn’t too put off by Plachu not accepting his hand. In a way, it reminded him of how Keith used to be when Shiro had first met him. If anything, it encouraged Shiro to see that someone like Plachu still seemed to have friends—it meant that there was definitely some hope for Keith.

“We’ll still need at least four more members in order to be considered an official club,” Coran mentioned, holding up six fingers after counting off the students in the room.

“Three,” said Shiro. “Keith will be joining.”

Allura gaped at him. “Really? He doesn’t really seem like the ‘club’ type.”

She wasn’t wrong about that. And Shiro figured it wouldn’t help if he told her he actually hadn’t even asked Keith yet. Instead, Shiro smiled at Allura and said, “People can surprise you.”

“I suppose so.” Allura brought her fingers up to her lips as she pursed them together.

Chuchule tapped Allura’s shoulder and whispered something into her ear, making Allura’s eyes light up with excitement. “That’s a great idea! I’ll try to ask some of my residents if they’d be interested in joining. My programs are usually fairly populated, so hopefully, that means a few of them will be willing to come.”

Coran clapped his hands together and ran off to grab his stuff from the other side of the room. As he raced towards the door, he yelled back, “Sounds like we’re off to a great start! For now, we’ll commit to bringing new members here no later than four o’clock on Sundays. Have a good night, everybody!”

Allura’s friends took that as their cue to leave, shuffling out of the room as quickly and quietly as they had come in. Allura fidgeted with her backpack, waiting by the door as Shiro slowly made his way over there.

“I know we don’t have a lot of things figured out yet,” she said, “but I really do think this club will be a good thing.”

Shiro nodded, looking down absentmindedly at his phone as he tried yet again to think of a way to convince Keith to join him. He paused when he saw several missed calls, all from Keith. Of course, Keith hadn’t left a voicemail.

“Is everything alright, Shiro,” he heard Allura ask as he checked through his messages.

“I’m not sure.” It wasn’t very often that Keith called Shiro at all, but it was even more unlike Keith to call multiple times.

Shiro started to call Keith back when a pop-up text from Keith suddenly appeared on the top of the screen: _‘In the CD’s office. They’re kicking me out of the dorms.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Weekly updates! Doing well so far lol—we're two for two! Let me know what you guys think and be on the lookout for the next chapter soon!


	3. The Residential Rebel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waiting on the news of his fate in the dorm, Keith reflects on his relationship with Shiro.

Keith sunk lower in the chair outside of the Community Director’s office, crossing his arms over his chest as he did. He prodded the inside of his cheek with his tongue, tenderly testing the areas that still felt sore. He couldn’t hear anything from inside the office, but he wasn’t dumb enough to assume that that meant things were going well.

He turned to look at his right hand as he flexed his fingers. He hadn’t hit someone in a while—not since his sophomore year in high school—and as such, his muscles were a little sore.

Funnily enough, the last person he’d hit had also been James.

After Keith’s dad had died, Keith had been placed into the public school system. But despite coming into the system in middle school—or maybe _because_ of that—Keith struggled to make friends. They lived in a tiny town, where everybody already knew everything about everybody else, even if you’d been homeschooled all of your life.

No one wanted to play with the rude orphan boy.

At least, everyone assumed he was an orphan. No one knew what happened to his mom. Sure, there were rumors, with the majority of the town settling on the most realistic one—his mom had simply up and left—but no one knew for sure. It didn’t help that Keith basically ignored anyone who asked him about his father and picked a fight with everyone else who asked him about his AWOL mom. After awhile, people stopped asking.

That is, until things finally came to a head in high school. After being gone for four years—and hearing the worst rumors as to what might’ve happened to him—Shiro suddenly appeared, complete with a robotic right arm, in the middle of the school’s Career Fair to help recruit kids for the Air Force.

It was no secret that Shiro and Keith were extremely close, but it was another talking point that Keith refused to acknowledge. That didn’t stop others from talking, though.

James had called Keith a “whipped puppy,” teasing him for the way that Keith basically clung to Shiro’s cardboard setup. Keith had done a pretty good job of ignoring him, until he’d heard James mumble something about Keith being desperate not to lose anyone else.

Shiro was quick to grab Keith, but not before Keith had managed to land a few well aimed blows on James’ pretty face. The black eye and fat lip that James sported and the time that Keith got to spend with Shiro afterwards had made his suspension worth it.

When Keith had first learned that he would be rooming with James in college, he had sworn that he would switch out of his room as soon as possible. But then Shiro had started letting him spend the night, and Keith didn’t think it was too bad to have James as a roommate, if only as an excuse.

But unfortunately, James was smarter than Keith had given him credit for. When Keith had returned to the room after Astronomy, he’d run into James and Ryan Kinkade, another student that James frequently hung out with or had over. Despite Keith’s obvious disinterest in the pair, James seemed annoyed with Keith’s presence, asking him why Keith wasn’t at his “boyfriend’s” house.

There was no confusing whom James had been referring to, though Keith tried his best to act feign ignorance. His denial only roused James up even further. In fact, James had been so aggravated that he’d grabbed Keith’s coveted notebook, dangling it in front of Keith’s face as he threatened to open it.

By the time Ryan managed to bring their RA, Seok Jin, to the room, the fight was already over. This time, he’d only managed to punch James once. He’d thought about going for a second hit, but as he had hovered over his roommate, Keith realized how much James’ words had affected him—he was actually shaking with rage!

In retrospect, Keith thought he should’ve just aimed for James’ mouth instead of his nose—though he had to admit it had been satisfying to see James well up with tears.

But Keith feared that this time wouldn’t end with a blissful two weeks of time with Shiro—as much as he wished it would. It didn’t help that he’d refused to tell Iverson, the Community Director, what had set him off enough to start a fight in the dorms.

The door to the office suddenly opened, flooding the hallway with a harsh white light. “Come in,” said Iverson gruffly.

Keith didn’t look at Shiro or Iverson as he came into the room. When no one said anything, he decided that he would be the first to speak: “When do I have to be out by?”

Iverson left out a rough sigh as he crossed his arms. “You’re not being kicked out,” he said. “But you are going to be moved into another room.”

Keith couldn’t help but look at Shiro this time. He didn’t know how Shiro did it, but every time Keith got in trouble, he always managed to slide into the situation and make the punishment more bearable. Keith thought the man must’ve had a tongue of the gods—an idea that was intriguing to him on more than one level.

“And,” Iverson continued, “you’re going to have to pay a fine.”

Well, _almost_ more bearable. “A _fine_,” Keith asked. “How much?”

Iverson sneered at Keith as he said, “Well, let’s see—this is your fifth incident and we also had to call Campus Security to separate you, so I’d assume you’re looking at five hundred dollars as a starting point.”

Keith stiffened in his chair. “Five hundred dollars? Are you kidding me? I don’t have the money to pay for that.”

Shiro reached out and gently touched Keith’s knee, shutting Keith up instantly. “Relax,” he told him. “There’s an alternative to that.”

Iverson let out a loud huff, his snarky smile disappearing. “Alternatively, you can opt to take part in our Citizenship Education course for the rest of the semester.”

Keith tried to focus on what Iverson was saying, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Shiro’s hand on his knee. He shook it off, saying, “What would that mean?”

“You’d be required to go to complete classes each week for the rest of the semester about what it means to be a model campus citizen.” Iverson’s smile returned as Keith’s face lowered into a scowl. “Additionally, you’d have to provide a written example at the end of the semester proving you’ve learned your lesson.”

“Absolutely n—“

Shiro slammed a firm hand onto Keith’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze as he smiled at Iverson. “Continue.”

“_And_,” said Iverson, “you’d have to participate in some form of community engagement.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at his Community Director. “You want me to do volunteer work on top of all of that?”

Iverson’s gaze lingered on Keith. “Look,” he said, his voice slightly softer than usual, “no one’s going to force you to do this. But by now, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that kindness and second chances don’t just get handed out like this. You need to tell me right now if which one you’ll be doing.”

Keith sucked in his breath and glared down at the floor. Part of him wished he could just leave. But even if he tried to, he was sure that Shiro would find some way to convince him to stay. Besides, there would still be the threat of the fine.

Feeling the eyes of both Iverson and Shiro on him, Keith finally said, “I’ll do the stupid Citizenship Education thing.”

Iverson nodded and stood up, signaling for Keith and Shiro to follow him out of the room. “You’ll be added to the Moodle course within the next few days and given instructions about when to complete the lessons. As for tonight, we can’t allow you to go back to that room. We can move you to one of the temporary rooms until we can figure out where you’ll be moving.”

“No need,” said Shiro, smiling. “I got a place for him to stay.”

Iverson nodded again as they walked the halls back up to Keith’s room. “See to it that you take care of him, Shiro.”

Though Shiro was still smiling, Keith noticed that it seemed strained on some of the edges. He looked away from Shiro and hurried to pack a bag as they got back to his room. He didn’t say anything as he shoved several clothes into a duffel bag, not caring to figure out how many outfits he had.

He grabbed his backpack and checked to make sure his notebook was still inside—luckily, it seemed that James hadn’t touched it again. Slinging it over his shoulder, Keith kept his eyes down as he left the room and followed Shiro outside to his car.

Keith cradled his backpack into his chest, feeling the urge to bring out his phone so he’d have something to distract him on the drive over. He realized, with a slight twinge of annoyance, that it was buried somewhere in his duffel bag. He’d probably be subjected to Shiro’s portion of discipline tonight. At least the drive wouldn’t be long.

But when Shiro got into the car, he didn’t say anything to Keith. Instead, Shiro just leaned his head against the steering wheel, his fists tightening over it until his knuckles turned white. He let out a long and deep sigh.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled, not once taking his eyes off of Shiro.

Shiro turned and gave him a weary smile. “Buckle up,” he said gently.

Keith obliged, albeit a little reluctantly. He propped an elbow against the window, staring out the passenger side window as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Maybe college isn’t for me,” he mused.

“Is that how you really feel?”

Keith shrugged. “S’better than having to pay a dumb fine or go through stupid citizenship education classes.”

Shiro laughed lightly as he said, “We’ll see if you keep that same attitude when you get into the real world. A stunt like that could wind you up in jail.”

“So what,” he asked. “You’d probably be there to bail me out, anyway.”

“Only so I can kill you.”

This brought a small smile to Keith’s lips, if only for a moment. “I guess I gotta find some ‘community engagement’ for the rest of the semester,” he said, doing his best to imitate Iverson’s gruff demeanor.

Shiro’s smile was more wicked than generous this time. “I think I’ve already got something for you.”

“No way,” said Keith. “How could you possibly come up with something so fast?”

“Must be fate or something.”

Keith snorted. “Are you a Physics or Philosophy major?”

Shiro shoved Keith lightly as he said, “Shut up. Does that mean you’ll do it or not?”

“I mean, I have nothing better to do,” said Keith. “Guess the only thing left would be finding volunteer work to do.”

“We’ll figure something out for that,” Shiro promised. He parked the car and grabbed Keith’s duffel bag before Keith could say anything.

Keith noticed Shiro’s gaze as it lingered on the building beside his. It almost seemed like Shiro was waiting for something. _Or someone_, Keith thought bitterly. He decided that he didn’t want to know about it if that were the case.

Matt didn’t seem surprised to see Keith when they stepped into the apartment. Keith wondered if Shiro had warned him beforehand that Keith would be coming with them. Or maybe Matt just expected to see Keith most evenings.

It didn’t take long for Keith to get comfortable, unceremoniously stripping down to don a dark t-shirt and loose sweatpants. Shiro offered the last of the casserole that Matt’s mom had made them, but Keith refused it, ordering Shiro to go relax. If he needed food, he knew where to find it—and was more than okay with getting it himself.

Shiro returned to the living room in a tank top and sweats, carrying some sheets above his shoulder. “Need another pillow?”

“You ask me that every time,” Keith muttered, smiling softly. He moved into position to stretch the sheet over the length of the couch cushions. It was moments like this that reminded him of when he’d first met Shiro—about a year after Keith’s dad had died. Keith had spent most of his nights at Shiro’s place, with Shiro always stepping up to make sure Keith was as comfortable as he could be.

As Shiro leaned over the edge of the couch to tuck the ends of the sheets in, Keith found his eyes drifting back to Shiro. He silently studied the muscles in Shiro’s back, memorizing how they came turned and came together until dipping down into his hips.

Keith felt his heart pounding in his throat. He tried to swallow past it, but the lump remained, growing stronger as he watched Shiro stand and roll his shoulders back. He mumbled something about being tired, which seemed to be enough to get Shiro to leave him alone.

He stood there, frozen in place, trying to get his heart rate back down. His eyes found their way over to where he had placed his backpack when he first came in. Then, as if it called to him, Keith dug into it, pulling out the black notebook Shiro had given him.

As he stared at the cover, he thought about James’ words again, trembling as he considered their implication. He thumbed through the pages he’d already filled. Was he really _that_ obvious?

Keith shoved the notebook back into his bag and turned away from it on the couch. He would deal with that some other time—a _much_ later time, if he had his way. For now, he’d keep his feelings trapped within those pages.

Eventually, Keith drifted off to sleep, his dreams full of monsters and demons and a handsome soldier, adorned with a brilliant black cape, who always came just in time to rescue him.

The next afternoon, Keith received several emails—one of which was confirming his enrollment in the stupid Citizen Education courses, another being from the Associate Dean of Students reprimanding him for his behavior, and the last containing information about his new roommate assignment: Lance McClain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, roommates. Who do you feel sorrier for: Keith or Lance? And for those of you wondering, don't worry-we'll see what's in that notebook soon!
> 
> Also, as always, feel free to leave a comment telling me what you think!


	4. And They Were Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura has her hands full trying with Lance's new roommate.

When Allura peered through the door to her suite, she wasn’t surprised to see Lance on the other side. After a whole year of shooting him down every time he asked her for a date—and nearly a month of having to do the same thing as his Resident Assistant—unfortunately, Allura was more than used to seeing Lance through her peephole.

She _was_ surprised, however, to see that Hunk was with him this time. Lance was normally brave enough to come by himself to ask her out—if Hunk was here, it must mean something serious was happening.

“Whooshit, ” Pidge asked, still brushing her teeth, as she came out of the bathroom.

“Who do you think,” said Allura with a pained smile. She stretched the smile a little further as she opened the door. “Lance, Hunk! Can I help you with something?”

Hunk pushed his index fingers together, glancing around the doorframe. “We’re sorry to bother you so late, Allura. It’s just that…Well, we were wondering…You see, we’re just a _little_ confused because—“

“Why is _Keith_ moving into my room,” Lance yelled, elbowing Hunk sideways.

Allura blinked at him. Moving into the room? She’d been told she wouldn’t be getting any new residents—at least for the rest of the semester. Lance and Hunk’s roommates had either dropped out or moved into a different room during the room change period, leaving both of the boys with an empty half of the room. She’d been told explicitly that the only reason someone would move now would be in case of an emergency.

Although, if it was _Keith_ who was moving into the room...

Allura shook her head as she finally realized what Lance was talking about: “Wait, did you say _Keith_?”

“Yes,” he said impatiently. “Keith from Astronomy. You know who I’m talking about? The moody guy? Always wears that dumb jacket? Has a stupid mullet? Oh, and did I forget to mention is also currently moving into my room?”

This seemed to be enough to finally drag Pidge out of the bathroom. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she asked, “Why would Keith move into your room?”

“I don’t know, Pidge,” Lance yelled. “It’s not like he bothered to tell me. All he said was he got some email telling him he was moving in.”

“Something must’ve happened,” Allura muttered, bringing her fingers up to rest underneath her chin. She paused suddenly as she considered something: “Is Shiro there by any chance?”

Lance narrowed his eyes at her, his face twisting into something unrecognizable to Allura. He crossed his arms, his expression darkening even further still as he said, “Yeah, Shiro’s helping him move in.”

Allura couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She hurried past Lance and Hunk, leading the way back to their suite. “Well, I’m sure whatever the reason is, we’ll figure it out eventually! For now, let’s focus on welcoming your new roommate.”

She heard the three of them scrambling to catch up with her. “Allura, you can’t be serious,” Lance yelled after her.

“Don’t yell in the hallways, Lance. It _is_ Quiet Hours, you know.”

The door to Lance’s room was still open, though Allura didn’t hear any movement coming from inside. Allura displayed no hesitation going inside. What _did_ cause her to stop, however, was the sight of the room. “Lance,” she said sharply as he came up beside her. “I told you _not_ to spread all of your belongings across the room.”

“Aw, c’mon, Allura,” he protested. “I thought I wasn’t gonna have to deal with this until next semester.”

“And why are the beds pushed together? Where is Keith supposed to sleep?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t see why you’re only yelling at me. Hunk’s room looks the same!”

Hunk’s eyes darted between Lance and Allura. “Man, why’d you have to tell her?” Turning to Allura, he said, “I’ll put it back if you need me to, Allura.”

Allura fixed him with a kind smile. “That would be great, thank you, Hunk.”

Pidge snickered as she peered into the room. “I can see why you’re so upset about having a surprise roommate. Is there any particular reason, you felt a need to bring so many clothes to college?”

Hunk smiled as he said, “Believe me, Pidge—I’ve asked him the same question. This is why we normally only let you see my side of the suite.”

“Well, I’m sorry that _some_ of us,” said Lance as he glared at Hunk and Pidge, “like to actually put effort into what we look like. I wouldn’t expect either of you to understand. Allura, you get it, though, right?”

Allura bit her lip. She supposed she did have a lot of clothes, but she could really only think about three outfits that she wore religiously. It was a wonder no one had called her out on that yet.

Thankfully, Allura was saved from having to answer, as the elevator door a few feet down the hall suddenly beeped. She plastered a large smile on her face as Shiro stepped out, easily carrying a few boxes in his arms.

“Shiro,” she said, her voice nearing a level that wasn’t _quite_ appropriate for Quiet Hours. She could feel her face heating up as she said, “I’m glad you’ve finally come to see my hall.”

He smiled at her over the boxes and Allura felt her stomach do flips. “Wish I could say it was under better circumstances.” Shiro glanced to her left and smiled a little wider as he said, “Hey, Pidge.”

“H-Hey,” she mumbled shyly, in a way that didn’t sound at all like the Pidge Allura had come to know. She didn’t think about it too hard, though.

“Seems like everyone from Astronomy’s here, actually. Funny how that works, huh?” Shiro paused by the door, revealing an even surlier looking Keith from behind him. “It’s good to see everyone.”

“Could you be any _more_ of a dad right now,” Keith grumbled as he shuffled past all of them and into his new room.

_More like a Daddy_, Allura thought as she watched the muscles in Shiro’s arms flex underneath the boxes. She suddenly felt her cheeks grow hot as she realized she was blatantly staring at Shiro in front of the others.

She shook off the thought as she skipped after Keith, giving him her most heartwarming smile. “I’m happy to have you on my hall, Keith. Sorry about the state of the room—Lance will move his stuff as quickly as possible and we’ll make sure you have a bed to sleep in. I do hope you’ll be comfortable, though!”

Keith’s usually hard facial expression seemed to soften for a bit, exactly as Allura had hoped it would. People usually had a hard time resisting her friendly smiles and bubbly attitude, even grumps like Keith.

He moved his suitcase to the side and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, hunching his shoulders forward. “Thanks,” he mumbled. “Um…Shiro said that you two are starting a club.”

Pidge stepped into the room, trailing just behind Shiro. She turned her head up to look at Allura as she said, “Really? You haven’t mentioned that to me yet.”

“I wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject,” said Allura sheepishly.

“Anyway,” said Keith, “he said you guys need members and I kinda need something to do, so if you wanted, I said I could—“

“You’d join,” she asked, unable to contain her excitement. She clasped her hands together and leaned closer to him. “Oh, Keith, do you really mean it? I’m so glad Shiro was able to convince you!”

“Convince me,” Keith asked, glancing over Allura’s shoulder at Shiro, who smiled back at him. “What, were you plotting against me?”

“Um, ‘plotting against me’,” Lance repeated as he leaned against his mega-bed. Allura had hoped that he would be in _some_ kind of hurry to pull the beds apart, but it didn’t seem like he was even thinking about that. “Way to make yourself sound like a villain. Seems pretty fitting, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t.” Keith turned to glare at Lance. “And what’s your problem, man? Did I somehow already do something to you?”

“Um,” said Allura, glancing around at everyone, “perhaps now is _not_ the best time to discuss this?”

Lance pushed off of his bed and stepped forward. Allura noticed that, at his full height, Lance was just slightly taller than Keith. Lance must’ve noticed too, because he jut out his chin, making an even bigger show of him peering down at Keith.

“Are you saying you somehow _don’t_ recognize me,” Lance asked.

Keith raised an eyebrow as he looked Lance over. “You mean from Astronomy?” His tone, though dry, wasn’t hostile like Lance’s. It seemed like he was genuinely asking.

Lance’s mouth dropped and Allura heard Hunk stifle a laugh in the background. “Seriously? We went to the same middle _and_ high school! Remember?”

“Were we in the same class,” Keith asked.

This caused Lance to have a little bit of pause. “Well, no, we were in the class below you, but you must’ve seen me and Hunk!”

Keith glanced at Hunk, giving him the same once-over he’d given Lance. “You’re the guy who threw up in the cafeteria, right?”

“Which time,” said Hunk, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, I’m pretty sure you’re talking about me, but you never know.”

“How could you not remember _me_,” Lance asked, bringing Keith’s attention back to him. “We were practically rivals!”

“Oh boy,” Hunk groaned.

Keith snorted. “Rivals? With _you_? Sorry, but I think you’ve got the wrong guy. If nothing about you stuck out enough for me to even remember you from school, I doubt I spent much time thinking about you as a rival.”

“Okay,” said Shiro as he set the boxes down with a large thump. “I think things have gotten far enough out of hand. Let’s all just take a moment to settle down so we can start over.”

Keith and Lance stared each other down for another moment before Keith finally shrugged and looked away. “I’ll get the last of the stuff out of the car,” he said softly.

Shiro gave Keith’s back a friendly pat before he turned toward the others. “Let’s see what we can do about moving this room around.”

Lance let out a long sigh, his mouth settling into a slight frown as he said, “Yeah, alright.”

Allura felt a little bit of tension ease its way out of the room. Shiro was truly amazing. She made her way over to him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze as she whispered, “Thanks for helping.”

“Anytime.” His soft but deep voice resonated within her and the feeling of his fingers as he squeezed her hand back made her feel warm in her chest.

She cleared her throat and glanced back at Hunk, saying, “Would you and Shiro mind separating the beds?”

Hunk shuffled forward and started to move Lance’s pillows off of the left side of the mega-bed, prompting a disheartened looking Lance to move. Surprisingly, Lance didn’t need any more directions from Allura, wordlessly moving toward one of the dressers to clear out some of his clothes.

“So, Allura,” said Hunk, his voice filling up the room with a bright energy, “why don’t you tell us more about this club of yours?”

“Yes,” said Pidge as she tossed Lance’s clothes off of the bed and onto the floor. This act seemed to at least bring Lance back to life, as Allura heard him grumbling about flinging his clothes everywhere. “I’m quite interested in knowing more about this myself.”

Allura smiled and clasped her hands together again, immediately launching into a detailed and informative recollection of her meeting with Shiro and Coran. When she was finished, however, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge looked just as confused—if not more so—than they had before she’d started talking.

Keith slinked back into the room, keeping his head down as he walked. He said nothing about the bed being back on his side of the room, nonchalantly swinging his half open backpack onto the bare mattress. “That’s the last of it,” he said.

Shiro nodded as he stretched his arms up to the ceiling—which didn’t take him much effort. “Alright,” he said as he brought his arms back down. “Time to head out, then.”

“Yes,” said Allura, only slightly worried about leaving Lance and Keith to the room by themselves. She took some solace in the realization that they at least had Hunk, whom she was sure could handle them if something got out of hand.

She cleared her throat and smiled at everyone in the room. “I just want to say thank you all for your cooperation tonight and your interest in the club. I can’t wait to see you all on Sunday! If anyone needs anything, you all know where to find me. Welcome to the hall again, Keith.”

Keith nodded curtly, crossing his arms back over his chest. His mood didn’t change by much, not even when Shiro strode up to him. “Hey,” said Shiro, snapping Keith to attention. “Remember: patience yields focus.”

Allura wasn’t quite sure what Shiro meant by that, but it definitely seemed to mean something to Keith, whose lips quivered for a moment before finally straightening back out into his usual soft scowl. “Yeah, alright.”

When Shiro held out his fist, Keith didn’t hesitate to place his against Shiro’s, though his face did suggest that he would’ve preferred _not_ to do this in front of others. Whether Shiro had picked up on this or not, Shiro did the same thing to Lance, Hunk, and Pidge, ending Pidge’s fist bump with an affectionate rub on the head.

Allura followed Shiro and Pidge out of the room, throwing one last glance back at Lance and Keith, who didn’t seem inclined to start talking to each other any time soon.

“They’ll be fine,” Shiro assured her as he closed the door. “Keith can be a little hotheaded, but he’s not a bad roommate.”

Pidge glanced back at the closed door. “How did he end up moving to the hall anyway?”

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “He, uh…got into a fight with his last roommate.”

Allura felt a scowl settle on her face. She hated the idea of looking less than composed, but even she could get tired of keeping a smile on her face all the time. Diplomacy could only carry a girl so far. “Lovely.”

He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her back to face him. “I promise he’ll be good, Allura. And I know you’ll be good for him. I saw your bulletin board—I know you put a lot of effort into taking care of the students on your hall. You’re a good friend and an even better leader. And that kind of loyalty and good character doesn’t go unrewarded with Keith.”

Allura could barely manage a response. She pushed a loop of her hair back behind her ears—a habit she’d thought she’d grown out of, ever since she’d gotten picked on for them as a kid for having “elf ears.” Finally, she said, “That explains why he’s so fond of you, then. If there’s anyone with loyalty and good character, it’d be you, Shiro.”

He gave her a bashful smile and shook his head back and forth. “Nah,” he insisted. “I’m not that great.”

She couldn’t tell if his modesty was genuine or how he assumed he was supposed to respond, but she didn’t quite care in that moment. Whether he admitted it or not, everyone knew that Shiro was the best as far as men came.

Shiro’s next smile warmed his entire face as he looked between Pidge and Allura. “You two have a good night. I’ll see you in Astronomy. And Pidge, tell your mom not to listen to Matt—we _need_ her casseroles.” He laughed and gave them a final wave as he walked to the staircase.

Allura let out a deep sigh. Somehow Shiro always managed to make her feel relaxed and on edge at the same time. She fell in step beside Pidge, who seemed strangely quiet. Though it was a short walk, Allura hoped to try to break whatever tension was between them in that moment: “What are the odds that Lance and Keith would become roommates? Do you they’ll actually survive?”

Pidge shrugged as she said, “Shiro seems to think so.”

More silence. “So…your mom makes casseroles for Shiro?”

“He shares an apartment with my brother.”

They were at the door now. Allura realized that, in her haste to see Shiro in the first place, she’d forgotten to grab her key. Fortunately, Pidge seemed to be prepared, pulling her keys out of her sweatpants.

“Hopefully the club will help them sort out any issues they have,” said Allura, smiling.

“Hopefully,” Pidge agreed. “I can’t wait to hear about it.”

Allura paused before she got to her door. “Hear about it,” she asked, quickly lowering her voice when she remembered that Shay was still asleep—not that Shay wouldn’t be the most forgiving person if they accidentally woke her up. “Aren’t you going to be there yourself?”

Pidge bit her lower lip and looked down at the ground. “I dunno, Allura. It sounds great, don’t get me wrong. It just…doesn’t sound like it would be _my_ thing.”

“But that’s the point of the club—to introduce ‘your thing’ to the others! To show what makes you unique and let other people see what they normally wouldn’t get the chance to.”

“Yeah,” said Pidge slowly, clearly still not convinced. “I just don’t know what I’d be there for besides being a placeholder so you don’t lose your status as an official club.”

As always, Pidge was extremely analytic—and unfortunately right. Still, Allura was never one to give up: “Then give it a chance. You might find what you’ll be there for after a few meetings.”

Pidge pursed her lips. Allura knew this face—it was Pidge’s patented ‘How Do I Tell Allura No’ face. Fortunately, Allura knew exactly how to combat this.

“Please, Pidge,” Allura begged. She poked her lip out into a pout and tilted her head ever so slightly to the right. Pidge was nothing if not a sucker for a good puppy dogface—a face that Allura just so happened to be a master at. “For me?”

Pidge’s face scrunched up in resistance before finally giving way to a reluctant smile. “I suppose it _could_ be worth looking into, especially if we get to hear more of Coran’s alternative curse words.”

Allura smiled. “I’m sure we can find a way to make a game out of it with the others. Maybe that’ll be the thing you bring to the club!”

“Quiznak that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright...NOW we can start having some fun! As always, don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think!


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